Empty Nest Menu #102

Last Sunday's soup featured turkey broth, roast turkey, half a packet of au jus mix that I found in the spice cabinet, some frozen spinach, a couple of carrots, the rest of the black eyed peas, and a couple of diced potatoes.  New Year's rolls on the side. It made two meals worth and was very comforting.

Monday - (freezer) Thanksgiving meal 

Tuesday - Stuffed Gnocci with Italian sausage and marinara, green beans

Wednesday - dinner at The Girl's apartment {after my mammo!}

Thursday - (Christmas) Ham, Mediterranean chop'd salad

Friday - Leftover Chicken Enchiladas from Sunday, Mexican street corn

Saturday - TBD but I never ate the tilapia last week!

Sunday - Buttermilk Herb Chicken, rice, roasted carrots

Gina

January 2022 cleaning

When January hits, I start cleaning.  I was home bound last Sunday so I focused on the laundry area and the kitchen, both in need of purging and freshening.

In the laundry "nook" I replaced the shelf liner and wiped everything down.

I made space on the upper shelf to store some Christmas stuff.  Along the way I fixed one of the doors that came off the track, replaced the knobs, and used a magic eraser to clean up.

Mischief managed.

In the kitchen I fell down the rabbit hole of 

WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY COFFEE MUGS

Every summer camp, a new one came home.  Bubbie mentioned he wanted more coffee mugs, so these are earmarked for him. Please note that I am one person here and I still have Christmas mugs, china cups, pottery mugs, insulated mugs, photo mugs...

This is the rest of the stuff I purged from cabinets and if any of my peeps want it, they better come get it before I make the next run to Goodwill.

Why did I have so many large casserole dishes down here?  Because we were a family of six and they came in handy once upon a time.  I moved them into a far corner for holidays.  There is empty space now and I can easily reach the stuff I use regularly.

Same for the plastic stuff.  A lot of it is holding leftovers in the freezer.

The amount of glassware we have is reedonkerus.  This is after purging.  I don't have to play a game of Tetris to get it to all fit now.

I cleared some space on top of the counters, wiped everything down, put up all of the Christmas kitchen stuff, moved my plant babies to the window seat, ran the dishwasher after I also purged the fridge and freezer, cleaned in the pantry, scrubbed the sink, mopped.

Whew!

The Google Lady kept me focused with smooth jazz. It felt really good to be productive and now I am ready to tackle another area of the house!

Gina

Winter art

Last year when I un-decorated for Christmas, I left the gold metal angel art hanging in the front room.  I always meant to get around to moving her, then hanging the clock back up where she had been, but you know what they say about the best of intentions.  It would have left a big empty space over the bookcase*, which is where the clock had been. But I knew I wanted to put it back where it belonged.  And I didn't want to spend any money to put something in that big empty space.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I saw an idea for making snowflakes out of clothespins from this blog.  I had a bunch of well-loved clothespins and made my own shabby chic version.  It was such fun that I made three more!

You can see traces of paint on a couple of them from some long ago art project.  Using the snowflakes, a rustic wood frame, burlap ribbon, faux eucalyptus (all stuff I already had) and an hour of my time I made this:

Its winter-y, not Christmas-y.

And it fits the space and the vibe perfectly.

Since the snowflakes are tied on to the frame with baker's twine, I can easily change them out to something else as the seasons change. 

Whatcha think?

Gina

Shared with:

Handmade Monday

*what's in that bookcase?  Everyone's old yearbooks from grade school on...

Empty Nest Menu #101

For a couple of weeks I tried to wing it with dinners and basically, it was too hard.

 Red Lentil Spaghetti topped with Italian sausage and marinara, side of spinach

I was feeding myself, but I wasn't really enjoying it, since I didn't have a good plan in place for days when I was too tired from work and had nothing prepped.

Dinners seemed like too much trouble.  I can't cook on the fly like that, I get too tired to think.

Leftover chicken strips, salad, a zucchini

Sauteed red pepper, mozzarella stuffed gnocci, tilapia

So.

Back to the Empty Nest menus

 

Monday - Grilled Chicken, Lemon Rosemary Zucchini {on call thru Th}

Tuesday - Jalapeno Salmon Burger with avocado and tomato (and chips, if there are any in the pantry left from Christmas)

Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl {my first grief counseling appointment, trees pruned, undecorate from Christmas}

Thursday - Poblano Lime Tilapia, side salad {work on the yards day}

Friday - Crock Pot Country Ribs, baked sweet potato, broccoli

Saturday - Freezer clean out item, salad {thrift shop in Burnet, check on Highlands, beer at STW}

Sunday - Chicken Enchiladas, Garden Lime Crunch Chopped Salad, Mexican Street Corn (The Girl is coming to dinner)

Gina

5 thing Friday - popcorn, disco, Christmas tree, spaces, ring

I bought one of those $5 tins of popcorn, intending to snack while I watched a couple of Christmas movies.  My favorite thing to do is remove the dividers and shake the tin like mad until it is mixed:

I never did watch those movies, but I have enjoyed me some sweet and savory popcorn - I don't think I will ever tire of popcorn no matter what season it is.

Not a great pic, but I couldn't believe it when I saw these "disco" chocolate chips at Wal-Mart.  Mark would have chuckled.  Somewhere out in the garage we have a mirror ball from the late seventies.  I made the cookies following the bag recipe and they were just ok, not great.

Another shot of the Christmas tree.  I am waiting until Wednesday to take it it all down. I'm thinking about furniture changes and just looking at my spaces in a different way.

Briefly I considered just one chair in the bedroom.  The laundry landed here for a day or two until I came home from work and thought "enough is enough" and spent half an hour putting it all up.  That got me to thinking about a schedule for myself.  Something to keep me from being at loose ends in the evenings.

A clean and kept bedroom is a comfort to me at the end of the day, so I will make sure to make it so before I leave the house in the mornings.

My peeps went in on a family ring for me as a Christmas gift.  It felt sad for me to wear my wedding rings, as looking at them reminded me of loss.  But it also felt weird for my finger to be empty.  This ring is a love knot, but to me it symbolizes much more - the bond between my kids and myself.

Happy New Year's Eve

I for one, an ready for 2021 to be officially over.

Gina

Christmas 2021 in pictures

Gina 

Last "New life" meal plan of the year

 We were treated to very mild weather on Christmas Day, and the sunset created a beautiful sky over Camp Rustown.  

And I think I will make a few changes to this little family journal of mine.  After all, what have the last two years been but change?

Monday - Italian Meatballs* (using 1/2 a recipe of uncooked Bruschetta Meatloaf that was in the freezer), leftover green beans from Christmas, maybe a little pasta or garlic toast

Tuesday - Flatbread Veggie Pizza, fresh spinach

Wednesday - Steaks, courtesy of The Girl (for our New Year's Eve eve dinner...)

Thursday - Soft Tacos (freezer filling), avocado, cheese

Friday - Stuffed Salmon*, baked potato, broccoli* and early to bed!

Saturday - Ham Balls, California Coleslaw, black-eyed peas, rolls {on call for the next 6 days}

Sunday - Turkey* Noodle Soup for one!

*Can you tell I am also cleaning out my freezer?  (:

Gina